Stretcher-clamp for woven wire.



B. H. WEST.

STRETCHEH CLAMP FOR WOVEN WIRE.

APPLICATION FILED APR. I4; 1917.

Patented Jan. 8, 1918.

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UNIT i' BAILEY H. WEST, OF MAKANDA, ILLINOIS.

STRETCHER-CLAMP FOR WOVEN WIRE.

Specication of Letters Patent.

Patented J an. 8, 1918.

Application led April 14, 1917'. Serial No. 162,033.

To all 'whom t may concern.

Be it known that I, BAILEY I-I. WEST, a citizen of the United States, residing at Makanda, in the county of Jackson and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Stretcher-Clamps for W'oven TvVire; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

The invention relates to wire-fence stretcher clamps and has for its object to generally improve the construction and operation of such devices.

With this object in view, the invention consists in the improved construction, arrangement, and combination of parts hereinafter fully described, and afterward specifically claimed.

In order that the construction and operation thereof may be readily comprehended, I have illustrated an approved embodiment of my invention in the accompanying drawings, and will now proceed to fully describe the same, having reference to said drawings, in whichf Figure 1 is a side elevation of my novel construction of stretcher clamp, shown attached over a woven wire fence.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary view showing a portion of the wire fence arranged in position upon one of the clamp members.

Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional view taken on the line 3 3 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a detail view of a portion of one of the clamp members showing one of the bayonet slots therein.

Fig. 5 is a detail view of a modified form of the invention.

Fig. 6 is a detail view showing the form of slot in one of the clamp members, and

Fig. 7 is a detail view of the upper end portion of still another form of stretcher clamp, showing apertured ears on the opposide sides of the member to which suitable fence stretcher means may be attached.

Similar characters of reference are used to denote like parts throughout the accompanying drawings-and the following description.

Referring more particularly to the drawings 1 represents one of the elongated clamp members comprising my stretcher clamp and which has its opposite sides covered with strips of sheet metal 2 and 3 respectively, the opposite side edges of the inner facing strip 3 being bent over the. side edges of the member 1 to provide bearing angcs 4.

The member 1 is also provided with a. plurality of bolts 5 which extend transversely through the member and its facing strips, the head of each bolt being arranged within a countersink 6 formed in the facing strip 2 which serves to prevent the noncircular head 7 of each bolt from turning. If found desirable each of the apertures through which the bolts 5 extend may be lined with a metal casing 8 which will serve to prevent undue wear and enlarging of the opening. Y

The stretcher clamp further comprises a coperating clamp member 9, which like the member 1 is preferably constructed of wood, and covering the opposite sides of the member 9 are facing strips 10 and 11, the opposite edges of the facing strip 11 being bent over the side edges of the member 9 to provide bearing flanges 12.

As shown the clamp member 9 is provided with a plurality of bayonet slots 13 which extend in from one side edge and preferably terminate in vertically disposed portions 11 which are designed to receive the bolts 5 when the member 9 is moved into coperating engagement with the member 1. Each of these bayonet slots 13 is preferably lined with a metal casing 15 which serves to prevent undue wear and enlarging o-f the bayonet slots by attaching and detaching the clamp member 9 from the member 1.

IVhen it is desired to arrange the stretcher clamp in position on the opposite sides of a wire fence, the member 1 is positioned upon one side of the fence, as'clearly shown in Fig. 2, and the member 9 is then positioned upon the member 1 so that the bolts 5 are received into the bayonet slots 13 as shown in Fig. 1, after which the nuts 16 upon the outer ends of the bolts 5 are tightened so as to rigidly clamp the two members together against casual movement upon the wire fence.

The elongated member 1 is provided at its opposite ends with draft attaching means 17, each of which consists of a threaded rod 18 positioned through the end of the member 1 and adjustably held therein by nuts 19 on the opposite sides of the member 1, while the forward end of the rod 18 is provided with a snap hook 20 having a yieldable tongue 21 which serves to normally close CIK tached to the hooks and the fence is being stretched, should the tension at the top ofthe fence become greater than that at the bottom to make the fence stretch unevenly,

the bolts 18 carrying the hooks 20, at each end of the stretcher clamp may be adjusted in either direction so as to equalize the tension at the top and bottom of the fence.

Should the stretcher clamp, after being secured in position upon the wire fence, ac-

cidentally slip while under tension, the bearing flanges 4l and l2 will come into engage-- ment with the enlargement formed by the connection and intersection of the vertical and longitudinal wires kof the fence, thus serving to prevent a further slipping of the clamp. These flanges A and 12'will also serve to prevent this enlargement from marring the side edges of the members l and 9. However, it is believed that the co-acting faces of the inner facing strips 3 and l1 when clamped over the wire fence will serve to hold the clamp against slipping.

In Figs. 5 and 6 will be seen a slightly modified formA of stretcher clamp in which the elongated member 9 is provided with slots 13 which extend in horizontally from one side edge, this particular form of slots f making it easier to detachably connect the member 9 with the member l.

In Fig. 7 will be seen still another form of the device in which each of the outer facing strips 2 and 10 are provided at their opposite ends and on each side with laterally projecting apertured ears 22. In the operation of this form of device a hook attached to the end of each flexible element of the fence stretcher would be hooked into each of the apertured ears 22 on one side of the clamp in order to enable the stretcher Clamp to be pulled forwardly in stretching the fence.

7What I claim is:

A wire fence stretcher clamp comprisingV a pair of elongated members, metallic facing strips arranged over the opposite sides of each member, one of said members being provided with a plurality7 of apertures, a metallic casing arranged in each ofv'said apertures, the outer metallic facing strip being providedv with non-circular countersinks concentrical of said apertures, bolts having non-circular heads disposed ythrough said apertures and having'their heads seated` in said counter sinks, the other Velongated member being provided with a pluralityof bayonet slots, metallic casings for said bay'- onet slots, said bayonet slots adapted to receive the free ends of said bolts, and clamping means connected to they free ends of said bolts whereby said elongated members may be clamped together;-

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specificationk in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

BAILEY H. WEST.

Witnesses:

HENRY W. BEECHER, IVALTER L. ANDERSON.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. C.

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